Here’s what’s making us happy this week.

The world turns, the sun shines. Spring is coming. We at Lit Hub are taking stock this Friday. We’re celebrating old faves, from actors to garnishes. We’re reading and scheming with better weather in mind.

James Folta’s rose of the week involved re-upping his trusty supply of fridge pickles. Because this crafty staffer “nearly always” has “red onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and Thai chili jarred up.”

For peers with a pickling penchant, James says this Smitten Kitchen recipe is useful for treating water-heavy legumes, like cucumbers. For most other veggies, he swears by a basic brine. James also has some words of encouragement for the condimentally curious who may also be staring down crispers full of veggies on-the-cusp:

You can play around with the ratios and the vinegars—some red wine vinegar is nice with red onion, and the sweetness of apple cider vinegar works with jalapeno, etc.

It’s also fun to play around with the spices and herbs: dill and garlic is great for a classic pickle flavor, but cardamon and cumin seeds with cucumber is great too; turmeric, ginger and hot pepper with cauliflower is great; Brussel sprouts with gochugaru is great.

The only limit is your imagination.

Gauntlet, thrown.

Jonny Diamond is looking forward to some fun evening viewing. Following her Best Actress win for Hamnet and the subsequent resurfacing of this incredible cover, our editor’s 15-year-old is “now obsessed with Jessie Buckley.” Which has led to a standing date with her entire filmography.

Tonight’s film is 2019’s Wild Rose, in which Buckley “plays a Scottish ex-con/single mom trying to make it big as a country star.” If Mrs. Shakespeare’s take on Sinéad O’Connor’s “Troy” is any kind of bellwether, I wouldn’t bet against her.

And Drew Broussard is feeling big love for his literary community. He recently enjoyed a packed house for the one-year anniversary of the Rough Draft reading series, at which the shop owners said some very nice things that our dear podcasts editor “decided to tolerate instead of running away from.” (The latter being his wont.)

That goodwill was chased by “a very cool dinner” for Casey Scieszka’s debut novel, The Fountain, at the classy Brushland Eating House in the Catskills. And, Drew adds, there’s even more joy on the horizon. “I just booked a bunch of cool events into the next few months for the shop, and in general it feels so hopeful and nice to be gathering book people in these otherwise absolutely rancid times,” he says.

Hear, hear.

Wishing you all a weekend of sweet obsessions, sour peps, and accepted compliments. You deserve it!